


This Means War

by myracingthoughts



Series: Darcy Lewis Bingo [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Gen, Scientist Wrangler Darcy Lewis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26300776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myracingthoughts/pseuds/myracingthoughts
Summary: Jane’s at war with the botanists on her floor, so when Avengers Tower springs a leak (no thanks to them), Darcy puts her (limited) survival skills to good use.
Relationships: Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis
Series: Darcy Lewis Bingo [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927495
Comments: 10
Kudos: 56
Collections: Darcy Lewis Bingo





	This Means War

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for Darcy Lewis Bingo and checks of box D1 - Pop-Tarts.

Life at the Tower wasn’t always a cake-walk.

Think you’ve seen office drama? Stick a couple hundred people in a skyscraper, a bunch of brainiacs in glass boxes, and you’ve got Avengers Tower. Things are bound to go wrong. Egos are inevitably going to be bruised. 

And Darcy? Well, Darcy Lewis knew better than to get in their way for the most part. 

At least that’s what Darcy kept trying to tell herself as Jane ranted for the umpteenth time about the people down the hall. It wasn’t that Jane wasn’t good about making friends —because, let’s face it, there _were_ some challenges in that area— it was more so that there was so much pre-existing tension among the scientific community on their particular floor.

But really, who thought it was a good idea to stick a bunch of scientists together? There was no way all of those geniuses would stay in check long enough to even pretend to play nice.

Little did most outside the 65th know, there was a long-standing war between Jane and botanists that shared her floor. It had started with one silly, out of control plant that had maybe taken a couple scientists hostage (who could have guessed that sentient plants were a bad idea?), and it eventually escalated into an all-out war. 

Some rogue particles had made their way into Jane’s lab and wreaked havoc on her machines, and the rest was history (and Jane’s fiery wrath).

Since then, Jane had been quite insistent on the airlock between the two labs, jittery at the thought of any of their rogue spores making their way into her precious hand-crafted (read: lovingly junky) equipment. And Tony Stark was willing to do almost everything to keep Dr. Foster happy in the Tower, so 24 hours after the initial request, Darcy and Jane were living their best space-age life.

It seemed to work for a while. In fact, it had been months since the last verbal brawl, and lately, things had been quiet, which left both Darcy and Jane with enough time to focus on their work.

That was, however, until today, when the somewhat neutral territory ended with a very dramatic _whoosh_. Well, it would have been surprising if the lab hadn’t been so heavily soundproofed. 

Jane was too engorged going over the numbers from her last reading to look up, so it was Darcy who spotted it first.

“Uh, Jane?”

Darcy pointed outside to the muffled commotion, about have a dozen people in labs coats wading through ankle-deep water just outside the glass walls. And it didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Not based on the panicked expressions on each of their faces and the massive waves rolling in from down the hall.

Jane looked a little bored, and with a heavy sigh, asked, “Let me guess, the botanists? I knew it was a bad idea having them on the same floor. Darcy, can you go and check how long this is going to take?”

Darcy’s eyes darted between Jane and the chaotic scene outside.

“Oh, I am so not getting my socks wet for this,” she muttered under her breath. She turned to Jane, whose eyes kept flicking down to the page in her hand, lips moving as she half-read the report, “No can do, boss lady. If I open those doors, we’re getting a whole lot of H20 on your precious lab equipment.”

Jane seemed to consider it for a few moments, “No, that just won’t do.”

Her eyes were back on her notes within a heartbeat.

Darcy, however, was a little more jittery, watching security emphatically ask who the hell left the valve on. She was suddenly thankful Clint had taught her a bit lip-reading in his off-hours — it had the potential to provide hours of entertainment.

Darcy was pretty sure there wasn’t going to be a quick fix for this one.

“ _Miss Lewis. The Operations team is currently searching for the malfunctioning panel in question so they can stop the water rising. As the airlock in Doctor Foster’s lab is operational, they are asking that you remain calm and stay put for the time being._ ”

“I mean, it’s just a little water, FRIDAY. I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Darcy brushed off with a wave, trying to convince herself that being trapped in a glass box surrounded by water wasn’t at all the beginning of some horror movie.

Logically, they weren’t about to wade through _whatever_ was in that water, so for now and the foreseeable future, so they were stuck in this lab. Sounded like a typical Tuesday to Darcy, to be honest.

“Well, how long’s this going to take?” Jane asked, apparently coming up for air just as the lights in the lab turned off.

“Uh.”

Actually, everything turned off. There were no flashing buttons or whirs of machinery, automated print-outs… everything was pitch black and silent.

What was that thought about not being the beginning of a horror movie?

_OK, Darcy, think. What had the nice Irish AI said?_

But Jane seemed to beat her to the logical punch.

“Well, apparently the water shut-off valve is generally electrical—“Jane mused aloud, now that it was much too dark to make out her notes —which she looked very frustrated about.

“And the electrical’s out on this floor—“Darcy stated the obvious.

“So they’ll have to find the manual override in the valve room,” Jane concluded.

Darcy’s brows raised a little unconvinced, “Is that the room’s actual name, or did you make that up?”

“What else do you call a room with a bunch of valves? Anyway, after that, they’ll have to decontaminate everything,” Jane glared in the botany department’s general direction, probably already plotting revenge. “And then we’ll be fine to go.”

But who knew how long that would take. Jane was about to blow a gasket if she couldn’t do something productive for that long, especially since she’d been on a roll for the past few hours. 

Darcy had picked up some (read: limited) survival skills out in the field and in her mandated SHIELD training, so now it was up to her to try and make the best out of a stupid situation.

Frankly, that was her specialty.

Water. She felt her way over to the corner of the room and felt around for a plastic-wrapped case. Thankfully they had stashed a pack of bottled water in the lab a while back, so that was one of the three of their needs crossed off. Two left.

“Food, food, food,” Darcy murmured, stomach was already rumbling as she paced the lab.

Grabbing her purse, she dumped the contents onto the floor for most possible supplies, using her cell phone to light the way. She tossed a keychain in Jane’s direction, and it clattered on the desk, about three inches away from the palm of her hand.

“A flashlight?” Jane said face scrunched. “Are you moonlighting as a girl scout?”

“Listen, that was one time, and it was for a mission,” Darcy (mostly) joked. “And actually those girls were very nice and super resourceful. Anyway, at least you can go to town with the science stuff while I make sure we don’t starve in here.”

She dug through the rest of the pile, nudging the contents into view of the blinding flashlight app. Gum, _way_ too many receipts, that lipstick she thought she’d lost last month… Eureka! The crinkles in her palm were so distinctive she was pretty sure she’d dreamed it.

She dropped the bounty onto the desk, silver packaging glinting in the light of Jane’s frantic flash lighting.

“Are those Pop-Tarts? I thought you gave them up after New Mexico?”

“I was feeling nostalgic last month, OK? Something inside me wanted to be a poor college student for a little bit,” Darcy muttered, ripping open the packing and shoving a splintered piece in her mouth.

The sugary frosting and gummy filling would have been better toasted. But this was an emergency, and Darcy had to keep her energy up if she was going to be without coffee for a few hours (while dealing with a grumpy, botanist-hating Jane).

“Were they as good as you remember?” Jane asked, brows popping up in genuine intrigue. “And hang on, this has been in there for a _month_?”

“Honestly? Better. Some of the recent flavour editions are…” but Jane already had her nose back in her work, long drifted out of the conversation that was the only thing keeping Darcy from panicking.

So, they might have been trapped in the labs for the next few hours (not-so-secretly dreaming of the dashing super soldiers would wade over to their rescue), but at least they wouldn’t starve.

Thank god for nostalgia.

And a long shelf life.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading. All comments, kudos and bookmarks are loved and cherished.
> 
> You can also find me on [tumblr](https://pasmonblog.tumblr.com/), where I post comic book content, work updates, and behind-the-scenes commentary.


End file.
